Systems for attaching a lamp housing to a trim piece in recessed fixtures are known in the art. In one prior art attachment scheme, torsion leaf springs or wire hangers are attached to peripheral sides of a lamp housing in a manner that allows them to slideably move in a vertical direction. A trim assembly is attached or clipped onto one end of the hangers. Then, the trim piece and the attached hangers are pushed into the lamp housing. The hangers become recessed into the lamp housing. Removal of the trim piece from the housing is accomplished by reversing this procedure. One example of this scheme is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,377.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,410 discloses a scheme to secure a support ring to the lens of a lamp. The lamp support ring includes a pair of bayonet tabs which are movable in corresponding lamp slots.
Other prior art schemes for attaching trim to a lamp housing employ screws, tabs, clips and the like.
There is still a need for a trim attachment scheme which does not require additional parts or tools to join trim to housing, which allows the trim to quickly connect to and disconnect from the housing, which allows the attachment parts to be hidden from view, and which can be employed with a variety of different trim designs. The present invention fills that need.